Keychain style flashlight or headlamp, LED type, not incandescent: The keychain style is tiny and lightweight, the headlamp style is a bit bulkier but easier to use. You can get these for a couple of bucks or less at the local big box hardware store. The LED ones are lighter, more durable and last considerably longer. Very useful if you need to make a repair after dark! I keep a keychain style one as a backup as I normally have a headlamp in my backpack.
Maintenance is the best prevention. “Prevention is the best medicine, and if you’re taking care of your equipment it’s super key. Bikes don’t just fail. If they’re in really good working condition and you clean them at night, and you’re religious about it, bikes are kind of like cars — they’ll start talking to you if something is getting worn or getting creaky or needs to be replaced.”
Packed with basic tools, this compact tin rescues puncture-interrupted bike trips. Pedaling away to a picnic spot with a pal, you hear a disconcerting "pop!". Your two-wheeler is now down one wheel, and unless you've got mad unicycle skills, you need tools. Good thing you brought this handsome, compact tin. Just break out the metal tire levers and patch kit, and you're rolling along again in no time. The six-sided, dog bone-style hex wrench adjusts the most common bike screws and bolts and screws. Made in China.
A plastic garbage bag, or $2 disposable poncho: Just in case of an unexpected downpour or getting caught out after dark. More than once, I’ve gone for a ride on a beautiful day with a perfect forecast, not taken a jacket and had the weather go south on me. Being able to cover up can mean the difference between just mild discomfort or a freezing cold, shivering ride home!
The thumb test is the fine art of pressing on the tube with your thumb to see if it’s inflated. During testing, I took a pressure reading out of curiosity, and to the touch, road tires feel fully inflated around 30 psi. How pathetically sad—30 psi!—when you’re probably trying to reach at least 60 psi on a mountain bike, 70 or more on a hybrid, and it only goes up from there.
Inside Student Union across from College Optical, the UCF Bike Repair Service is provided for students with bike problems. Students may come, free of charge, and have their bikes repaired with quality service by our Bike Repair Team. Service include: Inflate tires, change tubes, brake adjustments, tighten crankset, loose handlebars, adjust gears, and brake cable installation. Bikes can also be reserved here as part of the Bike Share program.
Unlike floor pumps, most hand pumps do not have pressure gauges. To get readings during my original round of testing for this guide, I built a special rig involving simple hardware-store parts. But the experts I spoke to seem divided on the usefulness of gauges. Half thought they were unnecessary, added bulk, and drove up cost. Why do you need a gauge if you know 100 pumps inflates your tire? But the other half liked them, because the “thumb test” is notoriously inaccurate.
Our favorite hand pump for commuters is the Lezyne Sport Drive HP, and you can read more specifics about why in our full-length guide, written by Dave Yasuda, a writer and tester with over 30 years in the saddle. To sum it up, Lezyne makes pumps with an extendable rubber tube that connects to your tire valve, and that’s the difference between awkward and demoralizing. It’s not the only company that does so, but it is one of the few, and it does it the best. The Sport Drive HP can adapt to any tire valve, has no small fussy parts to lose, and inflates more easily to higher psi levels than anything we tested without floor leverage.
We rented a tandem bike from here for an hour, and they were super chill! We dropped by on a Sunday and decided to go eat first; Andy, one of the owners, was awesome about holding the bike for us while we went to eat before renting. We enjoyed our ride for just over an hr, but Andy was also super relaxed about our return time and only charged us for an hour. We had a fantastic time and would definitely recommend renting bikes from here!
We are a full-service bike repair shop. From fixing a flat tire to packing a bike to a comprehensive tune-up, we can have you road-ready in no time. Estimates are always free: Bring your bike in and we'll recommend what repair and maintenance we think needs to be done. Many services such as flat tires and accessory installations can be done while you wait.
Next to everything else that might go wrong with a bicycle on an extended ride, a flat is a relatively minor issue that can be easily repaired trailside, if the right tools are at hand. If they aren’t, a quick fix can turn into a long walk. Well-prepared riders will perform a tune-up regularly and clean their bikes after every ride. For the less-diligent, a well-stocked repair kit will suffice.

Any bike that gets ridden seriously as transportation or on long rides needs at least a basic tool/emergency kit, and the knowledge to use it, unless the rider is always in a position to call a friend with a car or a cab when their bike needs a quick fix on the road. If you never travel more than a few miles, this can be overkill, and calling a friend or a cab may be just the ticket, but if you want to be more self reliant, this is something you should seriously consider. This list may sound like an awful lot of stuff to carry, but really, it only weighs a few lbs and fits in a small, under-seat bag that comes off quickly so I don’t have to leave it with the bike if theft is a concern. If you always carry a regular rack top bag, you can also just put all this in a small nylon bag and throw it in there, but I prefer an under-seat bag.

Patch kit: Patch kits are easy to use, light and compact, and if you get more than one flat on a ride (it happens more than you’d expect), it can save you when you’ve already used your spare tube. Plus, on a rear wheel, patching a tube can be faster than replacing it, as you can often do this without removing the wheel at all. Another upcoming post is going to show you how to patch a tube.
The best type of bike for exercise depends what level of rider you are and whether you would rather ride on trails or on the road. There is a type of road bike that is called a “Fitness Bike,” and features a lightweight frame and narrow tires, but do not have a drop handlebar. This may be the best type of bike for someone who intends to ride regularly and strenuously on the roads. If you plan to do a lot of trail riding, the best bike for exercise would probably be a mountain bike. For a person who uses bikes for transportation and exercise, but doesn’t go off-road, the hybrid bike build is a good type of bike.
Bike Radar gives the Pedro’s levers 4.55 out of five stars and claims they’re the “best out there.” (Can we pause to admire the extra five hundredths of a star the site chose to award it? Very specific.) Aaron Gulley, writing for Outside, states, “I can’t count the number of times I’ve snapped cheap plastic sticks, shredded my hand in the process, stomped around cursing in pain for 10 minutes, and then, insult to injury, been tool-less and unable to get my tire off anyway. That will never happen with Pedro’s.”
We offer several bicycle repair packages, or individual services in the case that you don’t need a full “tune-up”. Whether it’s a small brake adjustment or a complete bike overhaul, we’re happy to help. Our highly experienced staff is here to answer any questions you may have and will help get you and your bike back on the road as quickly as possible.